Three gunmen opened fire in a Pretoria hostel tavern, killing 11 people including three children aged as young as three—and injuring 14 in a random shooting spree.
No arrests yet as police probe possible links to organized networks; the attack is the latest in a series of mass shootings plaguing South Africa's high-crime townships.
Officials highlight unregulated liquor spots as hotspots for violence, amid national murder rates that rank among the globe's worst, demanding urgent reforms.
Armed assailants burst into an illegal tavern housed within a hostel in Pretoria's Saulsville township early Saturday morning, unleashing a hail of bullets that claimed 11 lives—including three young children—and wounded 14 others, police confirmed.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of pandemonium as three masked gunmen stormed the unlicensed liquor outlet, known locally as a shebeen, where patrons were gathered for a night of drinking. Bullets tore through the crowded space, striking indiscriminately and turning a place of respite into a bloodbath. Emergency responders rushed the injured to nearby hospitals, but the toll mounted quickly as some succumbed to their wounds. Gauteng police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe decried the incident as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by such unregulated venues, where "innocent people get caught up in the crossfire."
The motive remains shrouded in mystery, with no arrests made and investigations ongoing. Authorities suspect ties to organized crime networks that thrive in the shadows of South Africa's townships, fueling a cycle of retribution and turf wars. This tragedy echoes a grim pattern: just months ago, eight were gunned down in a Durban tavern, and last year, 18 family members were slaughtered at a rural homestead in the Eastern Cape. With a murder rate of 45 per 100,000—among the world's highest, per UN figures—the continent's most industrialized economy is buckling under the weight of corruption, inequality, and illicit alcohol trade.
President Cyril Ramaphosa's government faces mounting pressure to curb the bloodshed, including calls for stricter gun controls and crackdowns on illegal shebeens that often peddle dangerous homebrewed liquor. As Pretoria mourns, the hostel shooting underscores a harsh reality: in a country where crime claims thousands monthly, no community is safe from the next trigger pull.
